@article{ART003330193},
author={Choong-Hwan Park},
title={Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’},
journal={Asia Review},
issn={2234-0386},
year={2026},
volume={16},
number={1},
pages={173-200}
TY - JOUR
AU - Choong-Hwan Park
TI - Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’
JO - Asia Review
PY - 2026
VL - 16
IS - 1
PB - 아시아연구소
SP - 173
EP - 200
SN - 2234-0386
AB - This article illuminates the cultural and political meanings of “yikufan(忆苦饭)”, a unique food category meaning “recalling bitterness meals” in China. Yikufan refers to the meals cooked from especially tasteless and coarse ingredients which the Chinese mass under the Maoist regime shared in the finale of the ultra-leftist political gathering called “yikusitian(忆苦思甜)” meaning “recalling bitterness and rethinking sweetness”. Without having disappeared with the 1978 market-oriented reforms, yikufan has reemerged in the vein of the nostalgic tide in the cultural landscape of the market-socialist China, consumed by the Chinese populace as a form of food commodities. This study aims at investigating in terms of the politics of memory the cultural and political implications of yikufan in the two historical periods, the Maoist China and the market-socialist China. Firstly, it demonstrates that yikufan significantly contributed to the interpellation of the Chinese mass as socialist subjects by examining the highly politicized foods in the context of yikusitian political campaigns. Secondly, by illuminating the commodity version of yikufan in the context of the nostalgic cultural tide in post-reform China, it reveals the paradoxical ambivalence of the way in which the Chinese regime and the people relate to their near past, the Maoist China, and interprets its political and cultural implications.
KW - Yikufan;Yikusitian;Politics of Memory;Socialist Subjects;Nostalgia
DO -
UR -
ER -
Choong-Hwan Park. (2026). Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’. Asia Review, 16(1), 173-200.
Choong-Hwan Park. 2026, "Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’", Asia Review, vol.16, no.1 pp.173-200.
Choong-Hwan Park "Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’" Asia Review 16.1 pp.173-200 (2026) : 173.
Choong-Hwan Park. Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’. 2026; 16(1), 173-200.
Choong-Hwan Park. "Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’" Asia Review 16, no.1 (2026) : 173-200.
Choong-Hwan Park. Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’. Asia Review, 16(1), 173-200.
Choong-Hwan Park. Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’. Asia Review. 2026; 16(1) 173-200.
Choong-Hwan Park. Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’. 2026; 16(1), 173-200.
Choong-Hwan Park. "Yikufan and the politics of memory: Chinese people eat ‘Recalling Bitterness Meals’" Asia Review 16, no.1 (2026) : 173-200.
